Heel-attaching machine



R. C. SIMMONS.

HEEL ATTACHING MACHINE.

APPLXCATION FILED DEC.3| 19H.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

RAIL-PEI 0.

UNITED srares SIMMONS, OF BEVERLY, MASSAGE rear OFFICE.

:t'ITEl. .iFiSSIErhTOI'R. TO UNITED SHOE HEEL-ATTAOHING incense.

To all whoorit may concern: f I

Be it known that I, liar/nu: U. SIMMONS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State oi .Massachusetts,have invented certain 1mprovements in Heeldittaching Machines, of whichthe following description in connection with the accompanyingdrawings,is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicatinglike parts in the several figures. i 1 Y This invention relates toheelattaching machines and more particularly to that type of machine whichis adapted for use inattaching heels to boots or shoes by means of nailsor similar tastenings driven into the, heel from the inside oi. theshoe.

.Heel attaching by fasteuings-driven from the inside of the shoe throughthe insole and outsole into the heel, commonly called inside nailing, ispractised to a large extent with s0-called Louis or ogee heels which,have a large heel seat surface and a very small cross-section at thewaist. Such heels have a great deal of pitch or overhangat the rear, andfor this reasmrpresent certain difficulties to. solid and secureattachment. It is particularly importantthat a heel of this type bestrongly attached to the shoe as close as possible to its rear. end,since the tread face of the heel ,ispset well forward and a tremendousleverage is thus'enerted by the weight of the wearer tending toseparatethe rear end or the heel from the shoe.

. The ordinary method ofattaching an in-' side nailed heel by nailsdriven substantially normal to its seat surface is more or lessinadequate in the-case of heels having con siderable pitch, sincetherearmost na1l must be driven a a considerable distance from the rearend of the-heelin onder to prevent, its point .l'llOln emerging throughthe heel surface. In order to permit therearmost nail to be drivennearer the rear endiot theiliieel, it has-been proposed to driveg-it inan 111- clined direction, whereby its point is kept; well within theheel'body, while it enters the heel nearer the rear end of the latterwhere the greatest holding power is needed. It has even been proposed toprovide a heel attaching machine with; an inclined nail driver for thispurpose, but such drivers have been moved in a straight line, and consequently,inasmuch as they must work inside the shoe, the approach orthe nail to the Specification of Letters liatent.

ilatcntod Feb. 1, 1921.

Applicatiozi filed December 3, 1917. Serial Nb. 205,094.

rear of the heel has been limited by the counter and upper.

7 An importantobject 0f the present invention is to provide a nailingmachine for i11- clined nailing which will permit the insertion of anail into the work at a point nearer the limiting boundary of the workthan 1s. possible with the machines heretofore known. In its applicationto the art of inside heel nailing, the desirable result is attained thata nail may be driven closer to the rear of the heel-than heretofore, andthe heel thus be more securely attached at this vital point. t

.In pursuance of the object above outlined, I have succeeded in greatlyimprovmg nailing mechanism oi the type referred to by the employment ofa curved nail driver guided for movement in a correspondingly curvedpath. I am thus enabled to drive a heel nail at an inclination to thesurface which it enters and so to arrange the driving mechanism that thenail will enter the work much closer to the limiting boundary thereoithan if a straight driver were used. In inside heel nailing, it ispracticable, by the use of mechanism embodying" my invention, to drive aheel attaching nail quite; close to the rear of the heel, inasmuch asthe shapeand the path of the driver may be of a curve approximating,more or less, the shape of the inside of the rear portion of the shoe.

In a preferredtorm oi' the invention, the

nail driveris curved in an approximately circular arc and in itsmovement is guided by a suitable correspondingly shaped area ate driverpassage. 7

further object oi the invention is to provide improved means toradjusting the eil ectivc length of the drivers in nailing machines wherethe precise depth to. which the nail is set in the work is a matter ofimportance. Although its utility is notlimited tosuch conditions, aconstruction embody ing the present invention is particularly useful andconvenient in cases where the nail driver is incased or not easilyaccessible from the side. It has been proposed in the past to providefor simultaneous adjustment of all the drivers oi a gang by means of alaterally movable wedge underlying the driver plate and operated fromone side. By my invention, 1 have provided for greater I'GfiHOIHOIItQ Oladjustment, in that the provision of a driver having threaded.

engagement with its supporting block or member, and so formed at itsother end that it may be engaged and turned in or out of its support bya tool inserted in the-open end of the nail and driver guiding passagein the nail block or its equivalent. This formation may convenientlyconsist of a slot in the advance end of the driver which may be engagedby a screw driver inserted in the guide passage. Where there are aplurality of drivers constructed as just described, the effective lengthof each driver may be adjusted independently ofall the others.

For the purpose of disclosing the invention, I have selected a practicalembodiment thereof which I shall now proceed to describe in detail,making reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 isavertical sectional View of a portion of a heel nailing machine embodyingmy invention, showing a portion of a shoe supported in codperativerelation thereto; I

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a detail of the nail driving mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of part of the mechanism shown inFig. 1 with theshoe removed; I Fig. 4 is a view of a securing member for maintainingthe driver guide in position;

' and vention.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indicates the work support or jack ofa heel nailing machine and 12, 14 indicate the usual devices forpressing a heel upon a shoe and holding it in position while it is beingattached. The upper end of the jack 12 carries a plate 16 in which areadjustably mounted driver tubes 18 guiding straight nail drivers 20. Theplate 16 is slotted at 22 and a driver guide, indicated generally by 24,is formed to fit the slot. A flange 26, formed upon the driver guiderests on top of the plate 16, supporting the driver guide in operativeposition. The driver guide is formed of two in retracted position. Theopposite end of the spring is bent up, as shown at 14-, and acts as astop to limit the retracting movement of the driver, by reason of theengagement with the bent up end 44. of the spring of a shoulder 6L6formed upon the driver.

The lower end of the driver guide is slotted at 48 to permit theentrance of a Hat plate 50 which is mounted upon the upper end of areciprocable plunger 52. The elements just described are so related thatwhen the plunger 52 is elevated the upper end of the plate 50 engagesthe lower end of the driver and advances the driver longitudinally todrive the nail, the plate 50 entering the slot 48 in the latter part ofits upward movement.

In the actuation of a curved driver of the sort herein illustrated,there is a very considerable horizontal component in the forcetransmitted to it, and diiliculty has been ex- L perienced in securingthe driver guide 21: in adjusted position in the slot 22. For thepurpose of permitting adjustment of the driver guide longitudinally ofthe shoe and securing the guide immovably in adjusted position, I haveprovided the following construction. A series of recesses 54 are formedin the edge of one of the flanges 26, and a pin 56 of a size suitablefor engagement in one of the recesses is set rigidly into the plate 16.The driver guide may be lifted sufliciently to disengage the flange 26from the pin 56, whereupon the driver guide may be moved forwardly orrearwardly to the desired position, and the flange again seated upon theplate 16 with the pin 56 in the appropriate recess 5d. A cap 58,provided with an opening 60 to accommodate the nozzle of the driverguide, is then placed upon the flange 26 and secured by screws 62 ongaging threaded holes 64: in the jack top. With this construction thedriver guide may readily be adjusted to any required positionlongitudinally of the heel and may then be secured against anypossibility of move ment.

The driver 36 is of rectangular (r0ssse(- tion and the guiding passagein the driver guide is of a corresponding shape. with the exception ofthe upper end, wherea portion of the passage is drilled out into acircular shape of a size suitable for the head of the attaching nail tobe used and a depth sufiicient to include the length of the nail, asshown at 65. In Fig. 1 the nail is indicated indotted lines resting inthe round open ing in the upper end of the driver guide inv position tobe driven, while the full lines 36 indicate the nail as it isactuallydriven into the work. Before driving the nail, the shoe occupies such aposition on the jack that the rear portion of the upper is drawn snuglyagainst the back of the jack. Inasmuch as the pointot the nail, shown indotted lines in Fig. 1, lies slightly forward of the point wherethe1head of the nail must leave the bore 65, the shoe must move slightly tothe rear relatively to the jack while the nail is being driven. There issuthcient spring or yield in the jacl: and heel support 14 to permitthis, and the operation is probably aided by some springing of the nailitself. In any event, it has been found that the nail is drivensuccessfully and that it has greater holding power than when driven inthe way which has heretofore been customary. j

The upper end of the driver 3% is narrowed, as shown at 38, the objectbeing to permit the nail head to be sunk into the insole until it isflush or below the surface thereof without making an unnecessarily largedefacing mark in the sole.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the lower end of the straight driver 20 isthreaded at and is screwed into a suitably formed block '72 which restsupon the reciprocable plunger head 74, being retained in operativerelation thereto by the plate 7 6 which is slotted to permit transverseadjustment of the driver. The block 72 is split part way through, asshown at 78, and the two sides sprung together to cause the threaded endof the driver to fit tightly, in order that there may be no danger ofits turning accidentally and varying the adjustment.

The upper end of the driver is slotted at 80, and a screw driver 82 orother suitable implement may be inserted in the top oi the guide 18 toturn the driver 20 to adjust it up or down, as conditions may require.

lizlaving described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. fin inside nailingheel attaching ma chine comprising a work support construct ed andarranged to enter the heel end of a shoe, cooperating pressing means forholding a heel upon the shoe while it is being attached, a curved driverguide mounted in the work support with its exit portion at aninclination to the surface of the work upon the support, a curved,reciprocable nail driver contained in the guide, and means for advancingthe driver until its point engages the shoe, whereby a. heel attachingnail may be completely driven in an inclined direction from the insideof the shoe with a single stroke of the driver.

2. An inside nailing heel attaching maprising a nail and driver guidingmember having a curved guide passage therein, a curved nail driver insaid guide passage and guided solely thereby, and rectilinearly mow ablemeans for imparting sufficient longitudinal movement to the driver todrive a nail completely out of the guide passage.

a. A nailing machine having means for driving a nail at an inclinationto the surface of the work at which it enters comprising a nail anddriver guiding member having a curved guide passage therein, a curvednail driver reciprocable in said passage and guided solely thereby, andan actuator for advancing the driver to drive a nail.

5. In a machine of the class described, a nail and driver guide having acurved driver guiding passage and a straight nail guiding passage of alength at least equal to that ot the nail to be driven.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination. of a driversupporting device, and a nail driver having threaded engagement with thesupporting device, one end of the driver being formed to cooperate witha tool, whereby the effective length of the driver may be adjusted byturning into or out of its support.

7. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a driversupporting device, and a nail driver one end of which is threaded intothe supporting device and the other end of which is formed forinterlocking engagement with a tool for turning the driver.

8. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a driversupporting device, and a nail driver one end of which has threadedengagement with the supporting device and the other end of which isprovided with a screw driver slot.

9. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a driver anda driver support into which the driver is adjust-ably threaded, saidsupport comprising a block split and sprung together to grip thethreaded end of the driver tightly, to insure the preservation of theadjustment.

10. In a machine of the class described, the combination of: a driversupport, a driver guide, and a nail driver threaded into said supportand having a transversely slotted nail engaging end in said guide.

11. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pluralityof independ ent driver supports and a nail driver having threadedengagement With each of said supports, the supports and the drivers heldthereby being adjustable transversely toward and from each other andeach driver being adjustable in its support to vary its effectivelength.

12. In a machine for attaching a heel to a shoe,- the combination of acurved nail driver, means for guiding the driver for movement in acurved path, said guiding means with its contained (lllVOl beingadjustable in position longitudinally of the 15 heel, and means foractuating the driver to drive a heel attaching nail in any position ofadjustment of: said guide.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

RALPH C. SIMMONS.

